Chez les Mamies

Monday 5-17

It rained last night, but has ceased this morning and eventually the sun comes out. After saying our goodbyes to Orianne, we are on our way to Rouen.

We make a few stops for pictures and scenic views. We have only gone ten miles, but as we left a bit late, we must decide to either push on to Rouen, or stop sooner. Cookie warns that there is a BIG hill on the way to Rouen, and we may not make it over the hill and to the campground at a decent hour. We decide to search out a campground in the nearby village of Jumieges. Although only three miles away, it is all uphill – so we still have a bit of a struggle. But arrival in Jumieges finds us at a pleasant campground and a somewhat historic abbey to explore.

We bike down to the village and walk through the abbey. It appears as if it has been bombed, but Cookie tells me that at the end of the war, they started to use this and other abbeys and monastaries as “rock quarries”. They would take stones from them to build other structures I n the city. This practice was eventually stopped, and now they are restoring many of the old abbeys.

We search for a place for dinner and, once again, have an encounter extraordinaire.

We enter what appears to be the only place in town that is open, a small tea-house called Chez les Mamies. The woman who greets us recognizes that we are American (who wouldn't) and although she is apologetic, tells us that we can only get cold sandwiches, no hot food. As we converse more, she once again says she is sorry, but then begins to stop herself. “Ooo... oh... ooo,” she intones as she walks to one end of the shop to look for something. She returns and tells us she can fix us warm quiche with a salad for both of us. “C'est bien!”, says I, and we are off on another splendid repast and wonderful discourse with this sweet woman. We talk about where we are from and where we are going; traveling by bicycle.

She tells us about the town and of the owner of the shop, one of the two Mamies. There are four delicious looking pies and pastries on the table next to us, all different versions of apple pastries. They all look marvelous and cookie has one which is! We thank her a million times and depart with her wishes for a “bon journey... bon adventure!” So much for the myth of the French being inhospitable. Moments like this are a treasure and stay in your memory forever!

We head back to the campground and finally, with Internet access, I make connections with the office, We chat for a while and laugh as I recount our recent dinner adventure, and then it is off to bed again, even though the sun will not set for another half an hour.